'The Book of Mormon': Trey Parker, Matt Stone introduce London debut 'The Book of Mormon': Trey Parker, Matt Stone introduce London debut The South Park duo thank their "crazy" fans for queuing up for tickets.

Don't Miss Share November 10 2016 10:29 AM July 20 2016 2:56 PM Latest News Share 5 minutes ago 8:33 PM Share 12 minutes ago 8:26 PM Share 19 minutes ago 8:19 PM Share 46 minutes ago 7:51 PM 1 hour ago 7:23 PM Must Read Share January 06 2017 5:21 PM Share 18 hours ago 2:03 AM Share January 06 2017 8:09 PM Share January 06 2017 7:15 PM January 03 2017 5:00 PM Released on Tuesday, Feb 26 2013 26 February 2013 5:30 PM Shares It seems appropriate that the day after animation offender Seth MacFarlane presents an Oscars ceremony celebrating the musical that The Book of Mormon finally hits town.

Already a Tony Award-winning success on Broadway, this first preview showing in London plays to a packed crowd of megafans and is introduced by Trey Parker ("The star of BASEketball"), Matt Stone, co-writer Robert Lopez and director Casey Nicholas. © Joan Marcus Advertisement - Continue Reading Below The team joke to the "crazy" people who camped outside the venue overnight for tickets that no show is worth that level of dedication... except maybe this one. As we leave with big, stupid grins on our faces, we're inclined to agree. The plot is a simple one. Preppy, Gleetastic goody-tap-shoes Elder Price (Gavin Creel) and Jonah Hill/limpet/Eric Cartman hybrid Elder Cunningham (Jared Gertner) are an odd couple packed off on a mission to an AIDS-ridden, warlord-threatened village in Uganda. As Price starts to lose hope, Cunningham steps into his own with his unusual methodology. © Joan Marcus That warlord is the female circumcision-fixated General Butt F**king Naked (because "when I drink your blood for power, I do it butt-f**king-naked"). One of the villagers has a persistent problem with maggots in his scrotum.

The South Park duo clearly haven't lost their ability to perfectly pitch material between childish obscenity and "aaaaah" pointmaking. Like Jerry Springer: The Opera before it, the play will likely annoy some sections of the press. As with Richard Thomas and Stewart Lee's work, those most annoyed will likely never see it. It's easy to scream offence at a character calmly explaining that he's going to "f**k a baby" because he believes it will cure his AIDS. But divorcing that line from the context of the situation, character and set-up of the entire production completely misrepresents it. © Joan Marcus For what it's worth, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has actually given its tentative acceptance/blessing to the production. Given its overriding moral message, which isn't a million miles away from the ode to faith of Life of Pi, that's not too surprising. Melodically, the musical numbers in The Book of Mormon aren't quite as catchy as those in South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut, but they're not far off. 'Hasa Diga Eebowai' deconstructs 'Hakuna Matata' with devastating effectiveness.

'I Am Africa' remorselessly pillories Bono and every other gap-yearing bore for their patronising treatment of the continent. MacFarlane got mixed reviews for his shaky attempt to join the Establishment with the Oscars gig. Fellow cartoon bad boys Trey and Matt have already wowed the US critics, and seem destined to do the same here with a ridiculous, hilarious and very accomplished production. The Book of Mormon runs at The Prince of Wales Theatre until August 24, 2013 The Book of Mormon Tickets The Book of Mormon Tickets Prince of Wales Theatre, London The Book of Mormon, the Broadway musical from South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone and Avenue Q co-creator Robert Lopez. The Book of Mormon was an instant sensation when it landed in the West End in 2013. A sell-out winner of most major Broadway awards in its first year, it is now playing at London's Prince of Wales Theatre just by Leicester Square.

Created by Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the men behind TV's South Park, and Robert Lopez, one of the composers of hit show Avenue Q and writer of Disney's Oscar-winning megahit Let It Go, The Book of Mormon skilfully combines controversial humour with traditional musical theatre style, as well as a surprising amount of affection for its subject matter. Telling the story of two young and naive Mormon missionaries as they are sent out from Salt Lake City to find converts in Uganda, The Book of Mormon is a sharp, savage and satirical show, with an intelligent message, not to mention great songs and performances, and a fair amount of filthy humour. The Book of Mormon has won nine Tony Awards, a Grammy and four Olivier Awards, as well as almost universally glowing reviews, from critics and audiences alike. The Book of Mormon - Reviews ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ "The genii of South Park hit Broadway, and history is made. Mormon is on its march into Legend." Rolling Stone ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ "You'll laugh your head off.

Mormon is musical comedy heaven." TimeOut New York ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ "I ♥ The Book Of Mormon." The New York Post "The best musical of this century" New York Times - Ben Brantley Read More Why South Park's Trey Parker and Matt Stone Now Say It's 'Wrong' to Offend | Hollywood Reporter Why South Park's Trey Parker and Matt Stone Now Say It's 'Wrong' to Offend 1:11 PM PDT 3/24/2011 by Stephen Galloway COMMENTS Danielle Levitt In the new Hollywood Reporter, the Comedy Central bad boys open up about their meanest spoofs (from religion to Tom Cruise), conquering Broadway with "Book of Mormon" and how they’re working “on a deeper level.” Trey Parker and Matt Stone sit slumped at a table, exhausted. Their sense of humor has almost vanished, their energy disappeared, their anarchists’ willingness to say “f--- you” to anything that smacks of the establishment has utterly drained away. All they can think of is sleep. “The schedule throws you off so much,” says Parker, referring to their new Broadway musical, The Book of Mormon, about two young missionaries who are sent to Uganda.

“We’ve been going to previews every night then staying up till 2 or 3. I’m worn out.” Who can blame him? In the nine weeks since South Park’s creators decamped from Los Angeles for New York, they’ve plunged into a frenetic world of rehearsals, rewrites and directing their show — all with, between them, a wife, a girlfriend and two kids in tow. The sheer volume of work, and the lightning speed at which it has raced by, has caught them unawares. “It’s crazy how fast it is,” says Parker, wolfing down dinner at Serafina restaurant. “We did four weeks of rehearsals, then two weeks of ‘tech,’ then went into previews. Seriously, this is what blew my mind: We only heard the thing with a full orchestra six days before the first paying audience.” PHOTOS: South Park's wildest spoofs On March 24, a far higher-profile audience is scheduled to attend Mormon’s opening night, when New York will be counting on the production to sustain Broadway’s momentum — with more than $1 billion in grosses last year — and restore some of the luster tarnished by Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.

But at this point, with just eight days left before the premiere, that’s the last thing on the writers’ minds. Parker dreams of taking a vacation “somewhere in the Caribbean,” while Stone just wants to “go look at a wall and check out.” He won’t have long to do so. A week after they leave New York around March 28, the pair hurtles into the 15th season of South Park, part of a new pact with Comedy Central that keeps the show on the air through 2013 and is said to be even richer than their previous $75 million deal. They’ll have just one week to create each episode, with no time to prep. “Every show, we’re down to the wire,” says Parker, running his hand through his hair in exasperation. “I don’t know how we’re going to do it. It’s a nightmare.” [pullquote] This nightmare, a good problem to have, might have been averted if not for a chance meeting with Robert Lopez in 2004. On producer Scott Rudin’s advice, Parker and Stone went to see the writer-composer’s Tony-winning Avenue Q, then took him for a drink.

“Bobby said, ‘I want to do something about Joseph Smith,’ ” recalls Stone, the younger and more extroverted of the South Park duo, referrring to the founder of the Mormon religion. “And we were like: ‘Wait! We want to do something about Joseph Smith!’ ” Growing up in Colorado, next door to Utah, Parker and Stone had long been familiar with the Mormon church and its members; Parker even dated a Mormon girl and was badly hurt when she ditched him. They had first thought of a fictionalized Smith while working on an aborted Fox TV series about historical characters. Now, with Lopez, they started bandying about more concrete ideas — though they weren’t sure if their work would lead to a play or a film or something else altogether — only to realize Smith didn’t provide a strong enough hook. “Within a few days, we were like, ‘Nah!’ ” Parker says. “We pretty quickly got to a modern story.” This new version revolved around two young men who would go into the world on behalf of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a missionary task that’s obligatory for all Mormons. Precisely who they would be and where they would go remained undetermined.

In an effort to hone the tale, the three creators — who jointly wrote the book, music and lyrics — took a research trip to Salt Lake City. “Bobby had never been there,” Stone remembers, “so we ended up doing all the visitor stuff and museums but mostly talking to a lot of people.” As their ideas evolved, the principal characters crystallized into a bright-eyed zealot and his wacky, comedic companion. But developing them further proved a challenge. Lopez was based in New York, the South Park guys in Los Angeles — and they were working ceaselessly. How would they ever find the time to create an entire musical? In 2006, Parker and Stone flew to London, where they spent three weeks with Lopez while he was working on the West End production of Avenue Q. “We wrote four or five songs and came up with the basic germ of the idea there — that they would go somewhere not Salt Lake City-like,” Parker recalls. During the next few years, the trio met frequently to develop what they initially called The Book of Mormon: The Musical of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “There was a lot of hopping back and forth between L.A. and New York,” Parker says.

“That probably helped the project because there would be, ‘Oh f---, the guy flew out; we should probably work.’ ” All the while, the format itself remained uncertain. “We were thinking, ‘Let’s make an album; let’s just write another song,’ ” Parker says. It was Lopez who pushed for the stage, and as his partners concurred, he prodded them to take the vehicle a step further and “workshop” it. Coming from TV and film, Parker and Stone were clueless about what he meant. “We didn’t understand the whole workshop process,” Parker admits. “Bobby had to explain, ‘We need to cast it and have people there with music stands in a little theater, reading the script and singing the songs.’ ” The group embarked on the first of a half-dozen workshops that would take place during the next four years, ranging from 30-minute mini-performances for family and friends to much larger-scale renderings of the embryonic show. They spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of their own money, still unconvinced they’d take it any further. The workshop process was thrilling but posed its own challenges.

“In animation, we would simply have people do an ‘animatic’ [in which storyboards are designed to accompany prerecorded dialogue], something we could look at on an Avid,” Stone says. “But for Broadway, you need 20 actors and auditions — and that means dealing with Equity, the actors union. They have a pay scale just for workshops.” A final five-week workshop took place in August, when Casey Nicholaw came on board as choreographer and co-director with Parker. By that time, several of the cast members who’d been with them all the way — like Josh Gad, the plump sidekick whose confused mangling of Mormonism with Star Wars provides some of the show’s biggest laughs — were starting to get antsy. “August was our ‘shit-or-get-off-the-pot,’ ” Parker says. But the response they received was enough to make them commit. “Then we opened a corporation and did the whole investment thing.” Financing Mormon proved easy and modest by Hollywood standards. “It’s more than $2 million-$3 million but less than Spider-Man,” quips Stone. An insider estimates the budget at about $10 million, low for a big musical.

With Rudin in charge, the creators had one of Broadway’s leading producers at their side, who had also worked with them on the films South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut and Team America: World Police. It was Rudin who now booked a theater and hired key players while sets were designed and built, hundreds of actors auditioned and some 28 cast. Finally, a rehearsal space was found, tape laid on the ground to mark key spots, and the actual work of producing a full-blown musical got under way. On Jan. 10, Parker and Stone flew to New York, ready to give Mormon their all. ♦♦♦♦♦ It’s mid-afternoon on a Thursday, precisely a week before the show premieres, and their all just doesn’t seem to be enough. They’re huddled with Rudin in the stalls of the Eugene O’Neill Theatre, locked in intense discussion as Nicholaw pivots across the stage, a whirlwind of energy, putting his cast through one of the show’s bouncier numbers. The number may be bouncy, but the cast isn’t. Like the dozen or so technicians and stagehands sprinkled throughout the auditorium, they look wiped out.

Nicholaw shakes his whole head and body as two of the cast fail to get a movement quite right. “No, no, no!” he says, maintaining a remarkable ebullience despite his frustration. Across the stage, an actress who plays one of the Ugandan villagers rolls her eyes. Parker glances up at her somberly. At 41, he is no longer the enfant terrible who became notorious for lampooning everyone and everything — from Tom Cruise to Paris Hilton to Muhammad — and, along with Stone, even appearing in a dress at the Oscars. Rather, there’s a high seriousness to him that might surprise South Park aficionados. He treats the series as more than a job; it’s a cause. “South Park is way bigger than either of us,” he says. “And it’s this curse, and when we are doing it, I hate it. I’m pissed off and I’m tired, and every single Tuesday I say, ‘This is the worst show we’ve ever done!’ It’s brutal. But it’s something I am a part of that’s bigger than I am.

That’s what most important.” Says Rudin: “It’s this thing that happens rarely in the culture, where something very subversive is also very affirmative. It has affirmative values but also tears down every possible institution.” That combination has resulted in an enterprise worth hundreds of millions of dollars. South Park T-shirts alone generated some $30 million in sales in the late ’90s. And yet its success comes at a price: When they return to Los Angeles, Parker and Stone will have just two months to produce a batch of seven new episodes, followed by seven more after a brief hiatus. Without their usual two weeks of prep before the season begins — and without their habitual five-day writers retreat — they’ll be scribbling ideas on Thursdays and working nonstop till the early hours of the following Wednesday morning, the very day each episode airs, when it is finally locked. Both write, but their chores are slightly different. Parker, the more introspective of the two, also directs, while the effervescent Stone, 39, interfaces with the world at large. “He’s genuinely a true artist,” Stone says of his colleague. “I’m more mercurial.

I have a temper more than Trey; I’m not proud of it, but I have that edge. Trey avoids conflict like the plague.” Raised in Conifer, Colo., the son of a geologist father and an insurance-salesman mother, Parker spent a semester at the Berklee College of Music before meeting Stone at the University of Colorado, where the latter — from suburban Littleton — was a math major. Both shared a uniquely provocative, anti-authoritarian humor, which they quickly applied to their first movie, Cannibal! The Musical. Cannibal sold to schlock purveyor Troma Entertainment and got them a writing deal with Rudin while they were still in their early 20s. But it wasn’t until they made a much-talked-about video greeting card for Fox executive Brian Graden that they were commissioned to make South Park some 15 years ago. Other than the two forays into film and a TV misfire, That’s My Bush, they’ve remained exclusively with South Park ever since. Parker says they’ve had it “pretty good.” He doesn’t voice the familiar complaints about interference from Standards and Practices — in fact, he says Comedy Central’s lawyers have helped the series.

“The Scientology episode, for instance, started with the idea that Tom Cruise is going to show up and he’s just flamboyantly gay, and we were going to say, ‘There’s that gay guy!’ ” he explains. “And the lawyers said, ‘You just can’t do that.’ So we went, ‘What if we say, “There’s that guy, and he’s in a closet?” ’ And they said, ‘Can’t do it.’ So we said, ‘What if he’s literally in a closet?’ And they said, ‘That you can do!’ ” He smiles. “Bargaining makes you come up with the best ideas.” The Cruise episode was one of many that defined South Park as among the most cutting-edge shows of its era, a creation that made fun of individuals and institutions alike. Which makes it surprising to discover there’s a gentleness and even a kindness about Parker and Stone that’s far from the flipness one might expect. South Park executive producer Anne Garefino. “I’m very proud of the men they’ve become.” It’s easy to forget that the guys who started South Park as twentysomethings are now on the brink of middle age. “We care about different things today,” Parker admits.

“First, we were friends f---ing around, trying to get laid, breaking into Hollywood, sleeping on couches. Now Matt is married, and I’ve got a little family.” Two years ago, Stone wed his longtime girlfriend, with whom he has a 1-year-old boy. As for Parker, after a failed earlier marriage, he says he’s found contentment with his girlfriend of the past two years, who has a 10-year-old son. Both have become more sedate: Stone, who’s been with the same woman for 10 years, believes he’s born to be a family man, and Parker says most of his spare time is now spent at home. “For better or worse, we’ve gotten older,” he acknowledges. In his down time, the Cruise/Muhammad/Mormon satirist is obsessed with Food Network, and his hobby is designing houses. “I got into this little habit of architecture and building,” he says. “I designed a house in Colorado and one in Hawaii. The idea is supposed to be build and sell — but then I can never bring myself to sell them.” He laughs easily, appreciating the brief respite from all the pressure. Like Stone, he’s almost shockingly normal and decent.

Even at their most sacrilegious, Parker says, they never plan to inflict pain. He seems relieved at the Mormon response to his satire. “The production may attempt to entertain audiences for an evening,” the LDS website notes, “but the Book of Mormon as a volume of scripture will change people’s lives forever by bringing them closer to Christ.” “When someone goes, ‘Oh, this group is really pissed off at what you said,’ there’s not a piece of my body that goes, ‘Sweet!’ ” Parker asserts. “That means I did it wrong. I’m just trying to make people laugh.” Which is precisely what he says he’s trying to do with Mormon. And yet the amount of effort the writers have expended, the perfectionism they’ve brought to bear, seems designed for something far grander. The result might have lyrics like “F--- you, God, in the ass, mouth and c---,” but that shouldn’t dispel its underlying humanity. If anything, the shock element seems a distraction, as if Stone and Parker were reminding us they’re still the South Park creators of old when in truth they’re reaching for something new. But can they succeed? ♦♦♦♦♦ Night.

As the 1,102-seat theater fills to capacity, a rapid-fire prologue introduces us to the history of Mormonism, then we meet the show’s leads. Minutes later, we’re whisked to Africa, where we encounter cheery locals who sing with an abandon that the rehearsals simply don’t convey: There isn’t enough food to eat/Hasa diga eebowai!/People are starving in the street/Hasa diga eebowai! Gad’s Elder Cunningham squeals with an infectious giggle, unaware that Hasa diga eebowai will turn out to be blasphemous. Then we’re on a roller-coaster ride of comedy and characters with names like General Butt F---ing Naked — all wild and anarchic and yet so fundamentally sweet it hurts. As the curtain falls two hours later, the audience rises in a thunderous ovation. Mormon is very possibly about to become a phenomenon. This isn’t South Park: It’s a deeper, more mature work, which is terrific and terrifying at the same time. “Once you get yourselves into things that are working on a deeper level, you just have to keep going,” Stone reflects.

“When you reach that deeper level, you can’t go back.” Book of Mormon musical storms West End - BBC News BBC News Book of Mormon musical storms West End By Tim Masters Entertainment and arts correspondent, BBC News 26 February 2013 Close share panel Media captionMatt Stone and Trey Parker talk about their musical The Book of Mormon South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have taken to the West End stage to introduce their satirical musical The Book of Mormon. Hundreds of fans had queued outside London's Prince of Wales theatre on Monday to see the first UK performance. The Book of Mormon, which lampoons religion and musicals, has already been a huge Broadway hit. To deafening cheers, Parker said: "It's very cool to be here for the fan performance." He added: "We heard that a lot of you lined up overnight for tickets... and we want to say from the bottom of our hearts, you're... crazy. We don't know that any show can live up to that." Analysis By Will GompertzArts editor The Book of Mormon's reputation is built on its biting satire, crude humour and the mocking of Mormonism. There is plenty of all three.

But having now seen the show twice, I suspect that at least some of its success is down to its rather conservative nature. Strip away all the vulgarities and what you are left with is a traditionally structured, feel-good musical, which is chock-full of catchy show tunes. The Book of Mormon follows the story of two missionaries who are sent from Salt Lake City to preach in a remote Ugandan village. Written by Stone, Parker and Avenue Q's co-creator Robert Lopez, the show is directed by Parker and Casey Nicholaw. The Broadway show won nine Tony awards last year. It recouped its $11.4m (£7.3m) investment in nine months, making its money back in part by charging up to $477 (£304) for tickets. The West End show is sold out until the end of July, with a small number of daily tickets available via a lottery system. The show's content is not for the faint-hearted, with strong language and jokes about religion, Aids and female circumcision. "We never sit down and say how can we shock," Parker told the BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "It is unconventional material for a musical.

That's the sort of stuff that we love." Stone added: "It's about two white Mormon boys who grew up in Utah and are sent to a place with Old Testament problems - and nothing they've been taught helps them at all with these problems." Elder Clifford Herbertson, a senior spokesman for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the official name of the Mormon Church), said he thought the musical would raise awareness of the church in the UK. "I think the important point is that it's entertainment, it's not education, so it will raise awareness but I don't think it will necessarily help people's understanding or appreciation of the church," he told the BBC. Scott Brown, New York Magazine's theatre critic, described The Book of Mormon as a "wacky, irreverent tale". Media captionTrey Parker: It is unconventional material for a musical "It's one of those revitalising successes," he told BBC 5 live Breakfast.

"Broadway is like the pharmaceutical business - they crank out all these drugs, but there is just one that carries the rest of the market for a huge amount of time, and this was Broadway's Viagra for a while." Londoner Christina Tencheva was among those who queued for hours on Monday for a reduced-price ticket to the first performance. "It was outrageous in the best way possible," she said after the show. "I knew it was going to be rude in places but I came in with an open mind. I think anyone can enjoy it as long as you leave any prejudice at the door." Anna Koscheck, a regular West End theatre-goer, noted the show's youthful audience. "I pointed out to my friend when we went in that everyone is so young. I don't think I've ever seen that before." Matt Stone and Trey Parker met at the University of Colorado and as students created the indie film Cannibal! The Musical. Their cartoon series South Park made its TV debut in 1997. The big screen version South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut earned Parker an Oscar nomination for best song in 2000.

In 2004, the pair returned to cinemas with Team America: World Police, an adult satire with a cast of marionettes. Stone and Parker then spent seven years working on The Book of Mormon, which opened on Broadway in March 2011. ‘Book of Mormon’ creators discuss the musical - The Washington Post ‘Book of Mormon’ creators discuss the musical The inside track on Washington politics. Be the first to know about new stories from PowerPost. Sign up to follow, and we’ll e-mail you free updates as they’re published. You’ll receive free e-mail news updates each time a new story is published. You’re all set! By Nelson Pressley July 5, 2013 Follow @nelsonpressley CLEVELAND — The box office miracles of “ The Book of Mormon ,” chapter and verse: The musical has played to over 100 percent capacity audiences on Broadway since opening more than two years ago. Thanks to demand, its average ticket costs nearly $200. That’s highest on the strip, as is its $477 top ticket price.

The cheerful, naughty extravaganza by “South Park” masterminds Trey Parker and Matt Stone, with songs by Parker and “Avenue Q” composer Robert Lopez, was lavished with nine Tony Awards (best musical, book, score, etc.) and hosannas from the New York Times as “the best new musical (so far, anyway) of the 21st century.” This spring the show got iffy reviews from British critics but set a single-day London sales record anyway, with its top regular prices (72.50 pounds, or about $110) and premium tickets (125 pounds/$190) the highest in the West End When “ Mormon ” tickets went on sale here last winter, the Kennedy Center Web site crashed, swamped by a wave of would-be buyers that was “beyond unprecedented,” a Kennedy Center spokesman said. “Mormon's” six-week Opera House run starts Tuesday, and it’s nearly sold out. Most remaining tickets are going for $200-$250. So it’s pretty big, this jolly show with foulmouthed singing and absurdly sunny dancing as young Mormon missionaries recruit in bloody Uganda. But why?

Simply swaggering onto Broadway with the “South Park” brand can’t explain it. 1 of 24 2013 Summer Arts Guide: Critics’ Picks View Photos Fill your summer with our critics’ picks for top summer movies, music concerts, theater, dance performances and museum exhibits. Caption Fill your summer with our critics’ picks for top summer movies, music concerts, theater, dance performances and museum exhibits. Movies: “The Bling Ring” “The Bling Ring”: Director Sofia Coppola’s latest movie was inspired by the true story of a group of California teens who robbed the houses of famous tabloid fixtures. Pictured, from left, are Taissa Farmiga, Israel Broussard, Emma Watson, Katie Chang and Claire Julien, who star in the film. A24 Films Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue. “I am mystified to a degree that people would like it at all,” Lopez says from Brooklyn. “I didn’t expect anything near this size. I never thought I’d get to replicate the success of ‘Avenue Q.’ ” “In a way, Bobby is the one with the Midas touch,” Stone, on the phone from Los Angeles, says of the now two-time Tony winner Lopez.

“And Trey knows musical theater pretty damn well. We expected ‘South Park’ fans, but we didn’t expect traditional musical theater fans to embrace it so positively.” They have, wherever this unholy showbiz lampoon hath alighted. Take Cleveland, the tour stop immediately before Washington: in front of the Palace Theatrer on a recent weekday, about a hundred people sign up for a chance to snag a handful of $20 front row seats that “Mormon” sets aside most nights. Names are drawn to cheers and groans as a mere 16 tickets get claimed by the lottery’s winners. When a man named Tim wins, he buys only one ticket, not his allotted two. “Tim should take me!” a woman says at full volume. The Palace is part of a 10-stage complex in Cleveland’s Playhouse Square district, which dates back to the turn of the 20th century. It’s a true vaudeville-era palace, built by impresario Edward F. Albee (adoptive grandfather of the famous playwright). Think D.C.’s Warner Theatre, only 1,000 seats bigger: the Palace holds 2,800.

When the Palace opened in 1922, it boasted the world’s largest electric sign; its grand marble columns and glowing chandeliers are in first-rate shape. On a sold-out Wednesday night, it feels as if there are more people in the lobby of the Palace than on the streets of Cleveland.They’re all ages, skewing older, conservatively dressed. Tonight, this slice of Middle America doesn’t bat an eye at the f-bombs, sex gags and doctrinal skepticism. Word must be out about “South Park.” “At first I thought: This is really mild for them,” a woman can be heard saying as the satisfied throng pours into the Ohio night. She’s talking about the show’s innocent opening moments, before the blasphemous knockoff of “Hakuna Matata” and the entrance of the rebel warlord with the filthy name. This is what it’s like everywhere, according to Mark Evans and Christopher John O’Neill. Evans plays Elder Price (the tall, entitled young missionary) and O’Neill is Elder Cunningham (his plump, funny sidekick), and they’ve done the show in a dozen North American cities this year.

The variety of people embracing the musical “shows you how expansive America is,” says Evans, who is originally from Wales. O’Neill, sitting with Evans in a coffee shop across from the theater before the performance, says “Mormon” draws everyone from teenagers to, as he puts it, “90-year-old subscribers. And they’re the first ones up dancing at the end.” The mainstream appeal is partly due to how “Mormon” has been marketed, emphasizing the ebullient sweetness that redeems all the comic sin. But as the creators will tell you, there’s also something about how the musical was made. “There is a misconception out there that Trey and I brought the funny and Bobby wrote the music,” Stone says. “It wasn’t like that. Trey can hold his own with melodies, and Bobby is funny as s---. I’m the lucky guy that gets to sit there and hang out with these two geniuses.” “We all wrote the songs together,” Lopez attests. “We were all always in the room, making each other laugh.” Parker briefly attended the famed Berklee College of Music , and songs have been part of the Parker-Stone arsenal since their very early “ Cannibal!

The Musical .” But set aside the taste-baiting content of “Mormon,” which not so long ago might have been regarded in the same light as “ Springtime for Hitler .” The show’s form has all the comfortably familiar ingredients of – well, of a lot of popular American musicals. For Lopez, the story always boiled down to “The Music Man.” (Like Professor Harold Hill in that show’s troubled River City, Elder Cunningham runs a bit of a con on the Ugandan natives — but, of course, his heart is in the right place.) “Hasa Diga Eebowai” baldly sends up “Hakuna Matata,” but Lopez cites plenty more influences, from “The Telephone Hour” in “Bye Bye Birdie” to Up With People and Disney composer Alan Menken's “I want” anthems — songs in which the hero/heroine sing about his/her dream. “We always worked from models,” Lopez says. “Trey and I are totally unabashed about that,” says Stone, noting that they revisit cultural touchstones like “Star Wars” almost weekly.

Lopez adds that with material as dicey as “Mormon” — imagine an over-the-top “South Park” song and dance number set in hell, and you’ll get a feel for the irreverent extremes — “You don’t want to stray too far from the traditional look and feel of Broadway musicals.” Not that these cutups slapped the show together from spare parts. The musical was almost seven years in the making, and often half a year would go by between writing sessions, since Parker and Stone were on the West Coast and Lopez was in New York. Trying to recall what they’d done, Stone says, “We would have to rehash it again, almost like an oral tradition.” Their concept eventually went beyond religion and tapped into “class, race — there’s so much material to bounce off of,” Stone says. “You get to go really high-low with the whole thing.

You get to talk about colonialism, and you get to talk about poo.” Casey Nicholaw, choreographer of the Monty Python lark “Spamalot” and director-choreographer of “The Drowsy Chaperone,” was eventually brought in to co-direct with Parker and to add the often hilarious choreography that helps set the show’s tone. “He didn’t hold back at all,” Lopez says. “The show grew over many years, and the last stage was glitzing it up.” The business angle of all this has something to do with the lore of the tight ticket. “Mormon” is playing in a comparatively small house for a Broadway musical, the 1,100-seat Eugene O’Neill, while “Lion King,” “Wicked” and “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” entertain 1,700, 1,800 and 1,900 a night, respectively, according to The Broadway League. “Mormon” seats are simply harder to come by. Who knew the show would be in such high demand when they landed the cozy O’Neill?

Lopez, in fact, monitored the online ticketing agency nightly during the run-up to opening. Scoring 20 tickets was discouragingly easy. “I was worried,” Lopez says. (The sellouts began, he recalls, with preview performances and word-of-mouth.) At the same time, “Mormon” has plainly cultivated a strategy of scarcity. Evans says you’ll find far fewer illicit YouTube peeks of “Mormon” than of “Wicked,” and in this online age little official video has been released. Lopez says that means fans wanting to experience the show again need to head back to the theater. On tour, Stone acknowledges that they’ve been careful not to overstay the show’s popularity. “We didn’t want to limp out of any city,” he says. Stone also believes in the effect of full houses on performers. “We want them to keep putting on a good show,” he says, contending that the buzz of a sellout keeps the actors’ energy up. “When the cast does the show well, whatever cast it is, it’s a great show.” “That’s it,” Stone concludes. “That’s my revelation.” The Book of Mormon Book, music and lyrics by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone.

Tuesday through Aug. 18 at the Kennedy Center Opera House. Call 202-467-4600 or visit . entertainment The Book of Mormon Tickets The Book of Mormon Tickets Prince of Wales Theatre, London The Book of Mormon, the Broadway musical from South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone and Avenue Q co-creator Robert Lopez. The Book of Mormon was an instant sensation when it landed in the West End in 2013. A sell-out winner of most major Broadway awards in its first year, it is now playing at London's Prince of Wales Theatre just by Leicester Square. Created by Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the men behind TV's South Park, and Robert Lopez, one of the composers of hit show Avenue Q and writer of Disney's Oscar-winning megahit Let It Go, The Book of Mormon skilfully combines controversial humour with traditional musical theatre style, as well as a surprising amount of affection for its subject matter.

Telling the story of two young and naive Mormon missionaries as they are sent out from Salt Lake City to find converts in Uganda, The Book of Mormon is a sharp, savage and satirical show, with an intelligent message, not to mention great songs and performances, and a fair amount of filthy humour. The Book of Mormon has won nine Tony Awards, a Grammy and four Olivier Awards, as well as almost universally glowing reviews, from critics and audiences alike. The Book of Mormon - Reviews ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ "The genii of South Park hit Broadway, and history is made. Mormon is on its march into Legend." Rolling Stone ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ "You'll laugh your head off.

Mormon is musical comedy heaven." TimeOut New York ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ "I ♥ The Book Of Mormon." The New York Post "The best musical of this century" New York Times - Ben Brantley Read More “The Book of Mormon” Is a 2011 Tony Award®-Winning Musical from the Creators of “South Park” | Triangle Arts and Entertainment Triangle Arts and Entertainment News Search Home › Features › “The Book of Mormon” Is a 2011 Tony Award®-Winning Musical from the Creators of “South Park” “The Book of Mormon” Is a 2011 Tony Award®-Winning Musical from the Creators of “South Park” By Robert W.

McDowell + • February 12, 2014 “The Book of Mormon” cast at the Durham Performing Arts Center includes Mark Evans (left) as Elder Price and Derrick Williams as the General with the obscene name (photo by Joan Marcus) The Durham Performing Arts Center will present The Book of Mormon , the rollicking, R-rated Tony Award®-winning musical from the four-time Emmy Award-winning creators of the cheeky and sometimes foul-mouthed animated series “ South Park ” and the co-creator of Avenue Q: The Musical , on Feb. 11-16 and 18-23 in its 2,700-seat, state-of-the-art theater in the American Tobacco District in downtown Durham, NC. The Book of Mormon made its Broadway debut — co-directed by Trey Parker and Casey Nicholaw and choreographed by Nicholaw — on March 24, 2011 at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre, where it is still playing with 1,203 performances in the book as of Feb. 9, 2014.

The musical, which features music, lyrics, and book by “South Park’s” Trey Parker and Matt Stone and Avenue Q’s Robert Lopez , won nine 2011 Tonys, including the awards for Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, and Best Original Score Written for the Theatre, plus the 2011 New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical, five 2011 Drama Desk Awards including Best Musical, four 2011 Outer Critics Circle Awards including Best Musical, and the 2011 Drama League Award for Best Musical. The show’s original cast album also won the 2011 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. “ The Book of Mormon is a really fast-paced, hilarious show,” says Christopher John O’Neill , who plays roly-poly Elder Arnold Cunningham, who mixes “Star Wars” and “Lord of the Rings” stories with scripture as he tries to convert Ugandan villagers. O’Neill adds, “There’s definitely some language in the show that would be R-rated — after all it’s from the creators of ‘South Park’ — but people will leave the theater with big smiles on their faces.

“The show isn’t trying to use a bunch of bad words to offend people,” O’Neill explains, “but those words are necessary for what the show does.” The First National Tour company for “The Book of Mormon” includes (from left) dancer Phyre Hawkins, Mark Evans as Elder Price, and Christopher John O’Neill as Elder Cunningham (photo by Joan Marcus) According to Chris O’Neill, “ The Book of Mormon is a show about faith. It’s basically a look at religion in general.” He adds, “My character is kind of a train wreck…. He’s a big nerd. He loves Star Wars and Star Trek. He’s definitely not up to par with the other Mormons who study scripture…. He tries to adapt the lessons of Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings to The Book of Mormon .” The 31-year-old actor was born and raised in Stamford, CT. His father is a Juilliard-trained pianist, and his mother an eighth-grade special-ed schoolteacher.

“I did some high school theater; and then I moved to New York City with my comedy partner, Paul Valenti , and we did a two-man sketch-comedy act called ‘ The Chris and Paul Show ‘” Valenti and O’Neill toured internationally; and while they were playing the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, they were spotted by a casting director for The Book of Mormon. Both of them are short and stocky — O’Neill is 5-foot-6 and weighs 190 lbs. — so they fit the physical profile for Elder Cunningham. “They asked both of us to audition,” recalls Chris O’Neill. He adds, “We didn’t think it was going to happen for either one of us.” So, there was no tension during the audition process. In fact, O’Neill says, “We’re still working together every day, writing for the next project we’re going to do together.” The audition process for his first professional acting role was rigorous, O’Neill says, “Every day for about a month, I worked with a voice teacher to improve my range; and I learned the script, so I was able to do the show eight times a week.

“The hardest part of the audition,” says O’Neill, “was getting my voice in shape for eight shows. I hadn’t done any singing since high school, and my character is on the stage for about 98 percent of the show.” In preparing to play Elder Cunningham, O’Neill says, “I researched Mormon missionaries and some of their scripture…. They are very nice people. They’re clean cut and don’t swear.” By contrast, O’Neill confesses, “I am kind of a nutball…. Elder Cunningham is just a fun, spastic character…. I basically get to run around and act like an idiot for two-and-a-half hours…. It doesn’t take much for me to transform into that character.” Christopher John O’Neill (far right) as Elder Cunningham mixes “Star Wars” and “The Lord of the Rings” stories with scripture as he tries to convert Ugandan villagers (photo by Joan Marcus) Directed by Trey Parker and Casey Nicholaw and choreographed by Nicholaw, the First National Tour of The Book of Mormon features sets by Scott Pask, costumes by Ann Roth, and lighting by Brian MacDevitt.

The show also features orchestrations by Larry Hochman and Stephen Oremus, musical direction and vocal arrangements by Stephen Oremus, and sound design by Brian Ronan. In addition to Chris O’Neill as Elder Cunningham, the cast of the First National Tour includes Mark Evans as Cunningham’s teammate Elder Kevin Price, who wishes he were in Orlando, FL; Grey Henson as the Mormon Church’s district leader Elder McKinley; Stanley Wayne Mathis as Price and Cunningham’s tour Ugandan guide Mafala Hatimbi; Samantha Marie Ware as his daughter Nabulungi, who dreams of visiting “Sal Tlay Ka Siti” (Salt Lake City); Ron Bohmer as Missionary Training Center Voice/Price’s Dad/Joseph Smith/Mission President; and Derrick Williams as the murderous warlord General, whose complete name is too obscene name to print here. 'Book of Mormon''s Matt Stone and Trey Parker to Appear on "Letterman" Feb. 28 'Book of Mormon''s Matt Stone and Trey Parker to Appear on "Letterman" Feb.

28 Adam Hetrick Pin it Share Emmy Award winners Matt Stone and Trey Parker, who are making their Broadway debut with the new musical The Book of Mormon, will be special guests on "The Late Show with David Letterman" Feb. 28. "The Late Show," which airs at 11:35 PM ET on CBS, will welcome the "South Park" creators, who will no doubt discuss their new Broadway musical comedy. The Book of Mormon, which is also penned with Avenue Q Tony winner Robert Lopez, began previews Feb. 24 and will officially open March 24 at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre. Parker co-directs with Tony Award nominee Casey Nicholaw (The Drowsy Chaperone, Spamalot), who also choreographs. Book, music and lyrics are by Parker, Stone and Lopez. The musical centers on two young Mormon missionaries who have their faith and sanity tested when they are sent across the world to spread the word of Joseph Smith to AIDS-ravaged Uganda.

Josh Gad ("The Daily Show with Jon Stewart") and Andrew Rannells (Jersey Boys) star as Elders Cunningham and Price, respectively, with Rory O'Malley (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee) as Elder McKinley, Nikki M. James (All Shook Up) as Nabalungi and Michael Potts (Grey Gardens) as Mafala Hatimbi. The cast also includes Lewis Cleale, Scott Barnhardt, Justin Bohon, Darlesia Cearcy, Kevin Duda, Asmeret Ghebremichael, Brian Tyree Henry, Clark Johnsen, John Eric Parker, Jason Michael Snow, Benjamin Schrader, Michael James Scott, Brian Sears, Lawrence Stallings, Rema Webb, Maia Nkenge Wilson, Tommar Wilson, Graham Bowen, Ta'Rea Campbell, Jared Gertner, Tyson Jennette and Nick Spangler. The Book of Mormon has designs by Scott Pask (sets), Ann Roth (costumes), Brian MacDevitt (lighting) and Brian Ronan (sound). Orchestrations are by Larry Hochman and music supervision is by Stephen Oremus.

Parker and Stone have earned four Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award for "South Park," which is now in its 15th season. Their films include "South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut" (Academy Award nomination for Best Song) and "Team America: World Police." Lopez co-created Avenue Q, earning the 2004 Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Score and a Grammy Award nomination for Best Cast Album. He has also penned Finding Nemo: The Musical with his wife Kristen Anderson-Lopez, as well as the Broadway-bound original musical Up Here, which will play the La Jolla Playhouse this year. For tickets, $59-$137, phone (212) 239-6200 or visit Telecharge. The Eugene O'Neill Theatre is located at 230 West 49th Street. Here's Playbill.com's interview with the Book of Mormon authors:

Question: Which musical by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone made its London debut last year?
Answer: THE BOOK OF MORMON